Notes on event organizing: Develop your team

Panic at the last minute with posters that have to be released and videos that have to be edited – for a team that is learning on the job, leaving them alone to learn the task may not be the best strategy.

Teaching your peers to become instant designers and video editors may not be easy as giving them the task.

The first one requires a sense of taste with what works best with the pre-designed event logos and icons and of course an understanding of space, color and type. Learning a piece of software is not a problem, anyone can learn Photoshop or GIMP in a day and practice over time. The most important part for someone who will create all the visual materials is the eye for design (duh!).

The video editor will be working on a large volume of information, scanning all of the videos and making decisions on what to cut and trim. For a simple event of talks and performances, the most basic video documentation required are simple cuts of each section of the event. The video editor may not be required to have the eye for design for this simple work. What’s important here is that he or she understands the output that has to be achieved. Planning the course of the work is also important as rendering videos eat up a huge amount of time. With over 300 GB of data, this is something you can’t cram in a week.

For the project leader, it’s not enough to ask for the status of the task and leave them in the wilderness. Unless you want crappy materials that you would never want to look at and staying up all night for burning DVDs, as early as the tasks start you should get a feel of what your teammates are capable of and provide assistance as early as needed. They will have to struggle and learn a lot in the process, at the same time, this keep your event from one nightmare of an experiment.

And remember that developing theirs skills requires both practice and theory. Take the time before the next project to have someone teach about design basics, color theory and whatever. Recommending visual references that will develop their interest in design is also very important. People learn to write by reading a lot and so is looking at creatives encourage a healthy visual style and appetite.